


the farmer’s daughter

by rowanoak



Category: RWBY
Genre: Eventual Smut, F/F, Smut comes first feelings come after, farmer au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:29:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22899544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rowanoak/pseuds/rowanoak
Summary: Yang’s got a new job as a farmhand for Menagerie Farms. She takes notice of a pretty girl who just so happens to be the daughter of her boss.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long
Comments: 70
Kudos: 564





	1. Chapter 1

“Alright, so this is where you'll be feeding and watering the pigs.” The hulking man leads her over to the muddy pen with wire fencing lining the perimeter. A cacophony of squeals and oinks comes from the brown and pink swine inside, causing the man to raise his volume so that he can be heard properly. Yang stands politely with her hands clasped behind her back as she watches Ghira open the gate to the pig pen.

“The trough is right here,” he says loudly and pats a large hand on the deep metal trough that sits in the center of mud and straw pen, “and you can just fill up the pool there with water daily. They bathe in that. You’ll also want to fill this up.” He taps a large waterer that is attached to the wire fence. It almost looks like the type of water bottle you would put in a hamster cage, just a lot bigger. The pigs cry loudly as he comes close to their feeding trough. They’ve already been fed once today, but pigs are never full.

“You’ll pick up the table scraps from the house and leftover feed from the other animals to fill this with daily. You got all that, Xiao Long?” He looks at her with an eyebrow raised, his massive hands giving her a thumbs up to check that she’s paying attention.

“Clear as crystal, sir.” Yang gives him an enthusiastic thumbs up in return. She leans down to pat one of the smaller pigs that is nuzzling her leg, and then wipes the mud off on her overalls.

He claps his hands together, “Perfect! Alright, we went over the chickens, the goats, the horses, the pigs...I hope I’m not forgetting anyone.” He scratches his bearded chin, thinking hard. “Nope, I think that’s everything.”

“So I come in tomorrow at 5:30am?” she asks while adjusting the baseball cap on her head.

“Yes m’am. You’ll meet with Sun at the chicken coop and he’ll walk you through on your first day.” He looks at his watch. It’s almost 5:00pm. “You’re free to go. Make sure to get a good night’s sleep tonight. First day of work on the farm is always a rough one.”

“Yessir. I promise, I’m no stranger to hard work!” She puffs out her chest proudly.

He gives her a belly laugh and claps her on the shoulder. “We’ll make a farmhand out of you, yet.”

He closes the pen behind them and heads back up to the house, giving her a wave as he goes. There’s a glow coming from the windows that illuminates the dusk and makes everything look golden. Yang jogs excitedly back to her pickup. Finally, _finally_ , she has found a job that pays well enough help to support her and her sister. The two moved to the town of Beacon not long ago after their father had passed away, leaving them with no family. They’d been just barely scraping by on Ruby’s checks from her job at the general store. Now Yang will be getting enough to make their lives a lot easier. She couldn’t be more grateful to Ghira Belladonna for taking a chance on her. She is going to make him proud.

The Belladonna family owns the biggest farm in the entire county. Not only do they grow a variety of crops, but they also have a wide array of animals to tend to. Luckily for Yang, this means they need to hire quite a few farmhands in order to help with the workload. That night, she can barely sleep in her bed, too jittery at the thought of the day ahead of her.

-

“Mornin’, Yang!” Sun greets her with his signature cheery smile plastered on his face. His bleach blonde hair is tucked snug underneath a wide brimmed straw hat, and he is wearing a worn pair of overalls with no shirt on underneath.

“Good morning, Sun,” she yawns as she nods to him. If only she had been able to actually get some sleep last night. She thinks back to what Ghira had said about the first day on the farm.

“Tired already? That ain’t good,” he laughs at her and opens up the chicken coop. The hens start to trickle out, claws scraping on the old wooden plank of the coop’s ramp. They cluck animatedly, knowing that they’re about to be fed.

“I’ll be alright. I got a Red Bull in my car if I need it.” She grabs the feed bag from inside the shed next to the coop.

“With the two of us doing this today, we should get done pretty early, I think. Maybe Mrs. Belladonna will make us some lunch...she usually does on Fridays.”

Yang casts the feed out onto the ground in a wide arch, and the hens crowd around her feet. They push each other out of the way, pecking rapidly at the ground. Sun copies her movement on the other half of the fenced in area so that the some chickens are drawn away from the huddle.

“I hope she does, I’m already starving.”

Sun laughs at her, “It’s only 5:40, Yang! How the hell are you gonna last till lunch?”

“With shear will and a dream.”

-

Yang and Sun are halfway done with cleaning the goats’ stalls when the sun is high in the sky. Yang pauses after she shovels up another pile of poop and hay, wiping the sweat off her brow with the back of her arm. She stands and stretches her back out with a satisfying pop. Ghira really wasn’t joking about this being hard work. She looks on towards the crop fields, enjoying the beautiful view of the land and the hum of the cicadas. However, her eye is drawn to a figure sitting underneath the Angel Oak tree roughly seventy-five yards away.

She’s wearing a light blue sundress with a pattern of lavenders laced in. That's the first thing Yang notices. There’s a thick looking book in her hand, and her legs are kicked out to the side and crossed at the ankles. Her skin is dark, similar to that of Ghira’s, and she has shorter black hair that stops a bit below her chin and shines in the sunlight. She’s a faunus; she’s got two fuzzy cat ears that poke out from her dark hair. She certainly doesn’t look like she works on the farm. The girl looks up from her book, as if she can sense someone watching her, and she makes eye contact with Yang. Yang tips her baseball hat at the girl, giving her a full-toothed smile. She regards Yang for a moment, and then goes back to her book, not paying the farmhand a second thought.

She nudges Sun who is taking a long swig from his water jug.

“Who is that?” she asks him, feigning casual interest.

Sun puts down his water and squints at where Yang is gesturing. “Oh, that’s Blake Belladonna, Ghira and Kali’s daughter.”

“How come I’ve never seen her around town before?”

“Well, she’s been gone for about four years. She just graduated from college. Think she’s taking a gap year before grad school or something.” Sun shrugs.

“Oh, so she’s an educated girl,” Yang throws her another glance.

“Yeah, she’s pretty smart. I ain’t got a clue what she’s talking about half the time,” Sun takes another drink of his water, and then picks up his shovel to get back to work.

“So what’s her deal?” Yang asks him, intention in her voice.

Sun looks up at her, brow furrowed. “Oh no, no, no, Xiao Long. Don’t you go sniffing around Ghira’s daughter. That just smells like trouble.”

“What? I just want to get to know her!” She puts her hands up in innocence but gives Sun a wicked grin.

“I got ten bucks that says she won’t give your dumb ass the time of day.”

“I’ll take that bet.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had this one in the works for a while. Excited to finally post the first chapter! Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

The next time Yang sees Ghira’s daughter, it’s inside the Belladonna household. She accidentally cuts herself on some fencing, and goes inside to disinfect the wound.

“Oh my goodness, dear! What did you do to yourself?” Kali fusses, taking Yang’s arm and inspecting the cut.

“It’s no big deal, m’am. Just scraped myself on the fence.”

“Blake, dear, go grab the bandages out of the bathroom so I can patch this baby up,” she calls to her daughter, who is reading a book in the living room.

Yang turns on her heel to look at the girl she saw under the tree. She gives her a grin and nods her head at Blake once again. Blake gets up without a word and disappears down the hallway.

“Have you met my daughter, Yang?” Kali asks, taking Yang’s arm to wash under the sink with warm water and soap.

“I’m afraid I haven’t had the pleasure of making her acquaintance.” She winces when the running water hits her open wound.

When Blake returns, bandages in hand, Kali begins to pat her arm dry and wrap it.

“Honey, this is Yang. She’s our newest farmhand.”

She catches Blake giving her a once over, most likely looking at the mud that stains her clothes. “Charmed,” she says simply.

Yang smiles brightly, undeterred by Blake’s standoffish greeting. “It’s wonderful to meet you, Miss Belladonna.” Yang gives her a wink and begins to head back outside. “Thank you for your hospitality, Mrs. Belladonna. I’m sure I wouldn’t have bandaged my arm as nice as this by myself.”

“Anytime, dear! You’re always welcome here,” Kali says happily.

She shoots Blake a parting glance as she walks out the front door. The girl is giving her a look that Yang can’t quite read.

-

She finds Sun in the horse stables, setting out bales of hay. The Belladonna’s have three horses. There’s a large muscled brown one, who Yang gives a wide berth because of his rumored deadly kick, a painted mare who is the sweetest creature she has ever met, and a small black mare who is a bit skittish and won’t let Yang get near yet.

“You’re looking a little burnt there,” she says upon seeing the pink sunburn beginning to form on Sun’s shoulders. “Maybe if you wore a shirt, like, ever, you wouldn’t have that problem.”

Sun laughs as he throws another bale down in the stall of the black mare. She whinnies nervously at him when he comes close.

“I gotta be free to move! Shirts are too restricting. Thanks for looking out, though. Gonna have to reapply my sunscreen.” He starts to rummage through his book bag on the stable floor.

Yang takes a seat on the ground and leans back against a wooden post of one of the stalls. “Yeah, no problem.” She closes her eyes, attempting to relax for a minute.

“How’s it going with the lady, Casanova?” He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively while rubbing the white cream on his shoulders and face.

“Kali introduced us. I get the feeling she don’t think very highly of me.”

“Considering you shovel her horse’s shit, I’d say that’s probably accurate. Sounds like I’ll be making ten dollars pretty soon.” He teases her and his tail flicks her on the shoulder.

“Hold _your_ horses, Wukong. I ain’t had the chance to turn on the charm yet.” Yang turns to study the black mare in the stall behind her. “This one’s hers right?”

“Yeah, that’s Gambol. She’s a good horse, but she’ll only let Blake ride her.”

Yang hums at that, and turns to take a bright red apple out of her tote bag. She always carries food with her when she’s on the job. You never know when you’re gonna get hungry. Yang rolls the apple under the stall towards Gambol’s hooves. The mare eyes it suspiciously, but then leans down and takes the fruit in her teeth, eyes trained on Yang the entire time. Yang smiles to herself and closes her eyes again to rest for a few more minutes before she needs to go tend to the pigs.

-

Yang and Ghira are cleaning the shoes of the painted mare when Blake enters the stable on a sunny afternoon. She looks like a dream (as usual) wearing tight faded jeans with a fitted black crop top that shows her midriff. Yang does her best not to stare at her exposed skin.

“Can I borrow your car keys? I need to run by the book store in town.” She doesn’t spare Yang a glance; it’s as if she’s not there.

“Sure, sweetie.” He fishes for his keys with one hand while the other holds the mare’s hoof still. He tosses them to her without looking, and it’s a surprisingly great throw. Blake catches them and turns to leave, but Ghira stops her.

“Yang, go with her and get some more feed from the general store, will you? I have a tab there, so just let them know I sent ya.” Ghira releases the hoof he had in his hands and the painted mare shakes her tail as he steps away from her.

“Yes sir,” Yang says respectfully. She wonders briefly why Blake can’t just get the feed. The girl has two perfectly fine arms for carrying things. She disregards these thoughts because at least she’ll get to spend some time with her.

Blake levels a look at Yang but then turns quickly and walks out of the stable. Yang has to scramble to grab her tote so that she can keep up with her.

When they reach Ghira’s shiny black pickup truck (a much nicer and newer car than Yang’s beat up old yellow truck), Blake slides into the driver's seat and starts the ignition. She’s almost afraid her boss’s daughter will leave her if she doesn’t hop in the car fast enough.

It’s a ten minute drive to downtown, and every one of those minutes is filled with awkward silence. Yang isn’t sure what to say.

“So uh, books, huh?”

“What?” Blake glances at her then looks back at the road.

“You like books,” Yang says lamely.

“You’re very observant,” she deadpans.

Fuck. At this rate, Sun is absolutely going to be taking ten dollars out of her pocket. She needs to turn on the Xiao Long charm or she isn’t getting anywhere.

“Beautiful and smart. That’s a pretty dangerous combination.” She winks at Blake.

She doesn’t respond to that, just continues to watch the road as they pull into town. Yang can swear she sees a blush on her cheeks, but it could just be the heat of the summer creeping into the car.

They park next to the bookstore. The general store is just a block away, so Yang heads that way while Blake goes book shopping. The paint on the buildings that line Main Street has faded from years in the hot southern sun. The store that Ruby works at has big red letters at the top reading “Schnee General Store.”

The bell on the door dings as Yang enters, and Ruby’s head perks up from the front counter. The joint is almost completely empty, and she knows that her sister is bored out of her mind.

“Yang! What are you doing here?”

“I just came to get some feed. Ghira sent me, he said y’all have a tab for him.”

Ruby types something into the computer, and then nods her head. “Yep, we do! Go ahead and knock yourself out.”

Yang looks around a bit and then hauls two large bags of feed over her shoulder and carries them up to the counter. She figures she can chat with Ruby for a bit until Blake is ready to leave. Unfortunately, Ruby’s manager decides to come out of the office at that moment.

“I don’t need you to distract my employee, Yang.” Weiss’s voice is sharp.

“Oh sure, wouldn’t want her to ignore the other customers you have lining up.” Yang gestures to the clearly empty store. She turns back to Ruby, “So, I came down here with that Belladonna girl.”

“Who, Blake? Didn’t you go to school with her, Weiss?” Ruby asks.

“Yeah, we were in grade school together. She’s a bit odd,” Weiss shrugs and starts to stock the shelves behind the counter with gum and swishers.

“What do ya mean by that?” Yang inquires, suddenly very interested in what Weiss has to say.

“I don’t know. She never really had any friends, kind of a loner, awkward to talk to.”

She wonders if maybe she’s been reading Blake all wrong. Maybe she doesn’t actively dislike Yang, she just doesn’t know how to talk to people. She really hopes that’s the case.

“That’s interesting. She ever go out with anyone while you were in school?” Yang asks while scratching her arm.

Weiss laughs, “No, I don’t think so. I think you’re barking up the wrong tree, though. Her daddy’s got the biggest farm around, they’re practically royalty in this town. I doubt she’d want to date someone who works for her.”

Yang takes her hat off and slaps it onto the counter in exaggerated anger, “I don’t know why everyone keeps saying that! I’m a real catch, I’ll have you know.”

Ruby and Weiss laugh at her and the bell to the front of the shop dings as someone enters. It’s Blake Belladonna, herself.

“Are you done?” she asks Yang upon entry, a stack of books cradled in her arms.

“Yeah, I’m coming, sweetheart.” She puts her hat on and slings the feed bags over her shoulder. She gives a lazy salute to her sister and Weiss as she follows Blake out.

The car ride back is less awkward than the ride there, even if it’s just as silent. Yang thinks that she understands more about Blake now, and that might be a start.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love writing for this because I live in the south and I’m fairly familiar with farms lol. Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

The sun is beating down with a ferocity unique to southern summers. Yang is filling up the pool for the pigs so that they can soak and find relief from the heat. Sun is outside the pen, leaning against the fence and watching the pigs roll in the mud. He’s done with his morning work already, so he’s waiting for her to get done so they can eat lunch together. 

“Do you think Mrs. Belladonna made us cucumber sandwiches?” he asks while picking at his teeth.

“I think that you think about your stomach too much,” she answers. She sets the hose to the misting setting and sprays the pigs at her feet who oink happily. “Did you not _bring_ your lunch?”

“I always bring a lunch, but I would much rather have Mrs. Belladonna’s cooking.” 

“You clown on me for fancying Miss Belladonna, but it seems to me like you have the hots for _Mrs._ Belladonna,” she sprays him with the hose. “I think the sun is getting to your head, Sun.” 

He sputters when the water hits his face. “I can appreciate the generosity of a woman without having the ‘hots’ for her!” There’s a blush that blooms on his cheeks that gives him away. 

“Oh my gods, you _totally_ have a crush on her!” Yang laughs loudly at Sun’s expense.

“You better shut that fat mouth of yours!” 

Sun hops over the fence with ease and tries to wrangle Yang into a headlock. They tussle for a bit, laughing and grabbing at each other. Yang eventually has Sun in a hold that he has to say ‘uncle’ to be released from. She lets him go and walks backwards to pick up the forgotten hose, but a pig happens to be standing unawares right behind her. Yang trips over the pig and falls ass first into the thick mud. Sun almost falls over from laughter, tears forming in his eyes. She stands up and looks to see that the seat of her overalls is completely caked in mud. 

Yang almost pushes him backwards into the mud as well, but she hears soft laughter coming from far behind her. She turns to see Blake sitting under the Angel Oak tree, book in hand, giggling at their antics.

A goofy smile spreads over Yang’s face and she raises a hand to wave at her. Gods, she’s pretty. Blake gives her a small wave back, a timid smile on her face. She seems embarrassed that she got caught watching them. Yang turns and continues to fill the pool, not minding at all that she’ll have a brown stain on her ass for the rest of the day. 

-

While she’s busy fixing the markers on the edge of the Belladonna property, Yang sees Blake riding Gambol by the pond that marks one of the borders of the farm. It’s a cooler day than is typical of the summer, and Yang is enjoying the breeze that flows intermittently through the trees. 

Gambol is a beautiful horse. She’s never really seen the mare at a distance before, but she’s quite striking with her glistening black coat and her well kept mane. She watches as Gambol takes a sip from the pond, then she gets distracted by the arch of Blake’s back. She’s wearing a tank top that hugs her chest tightly. Yang looks back down to her work, so as not to stare.

A few minutes later she hears a scream from Gambol, and her head shoots up to see Blake being thrown backwards off her horse. The mare gallops off into the trees outside of the property, and Blake lies on her back on the ground, groaning.

“Blake!” Yang shouts and runs to the girl. 

She slides onto her knees next to Blake, checking to make sure she’s conscious.

“What happened? Are you okay?” She helps her sit up, looking to see if she was kicked when Gambol ran away. 

“Oww,” she groans, “I think she saw a snake and got spooked.” 

Yang removes her hand from her arm, not wanting to make the girl uncomfortable. Blake rubs her head and her eyes go wide. 

“ _Shit._ We need to get her before she runs off too far! I don’t want her to go near the road,” Blake stands up quickly, but then has to sit back down. “Oh, I’m dizzy.” 

“Stay here, I’ll go get her,” Yang looks in the direction that the mare ran, trying to see if there’s any sign of her.

“She won’t let you mount her,” she says, giving a look of disbelief to the farmhand.

“Don’t underestimate me, sweetheart,” Yang replies with a lopsided grin. 

Blake stares at her for a moment, but then smiles back at Yang. “Oh, she’s absolutely going to kick you.” 

Yang doesn’t care that Blake doesn’t believe in her, because her smile is gorgeous enough to inspire her to succeed regardless. 

“We’ll see about that.” 

-

She’s jogging through the trees, the underbrush crunching underneath her work boots. She listens closely for any sounds of Gambol, but the forest is quiet apart from the occasional songbird. Soon she approaches a clearing and sees the jet black mare munching on the green grass. Light dapples through the trees, and it’s the most serene thing that Yang has ever seen. Gambol turns to look at Yang, hesitance in her eyes.

“Shhh, it’s okay, girl,” she whispers soothingly, moving slowly towards the horse.

Gambol lets out a heavy breath through her nose and paws the ground with a hoof, a warning. Yang gets an idea. She slowly snakes a hand into her tote bag and pulls out a shiny red apple. She moves slowly towards the mare, murmuring soothing words to calm her. Gambol lets her come closer, seemingly interested in the fruit in Yang’s hand. She gets close enough to place a hand on Gambol’s long nose, and the horse allows it. She takes the apple out of Yang’s hand, and Yang moves to pat her on the side.

“There ya go, you’re a good girl.”

They sit there for a minute while Gambol chews on the apple, Yang petting her side comfortingly. She moves to climb on the mare, hooking her boot into the foot of the saddle. The mare shifts uncomfortably and whinnies nervously at the movement. Yang knows better to press her luck.

“Okay, I’ll walk. No worries.” She plants her feet firmly back on the ground and grabs the reigns to lead Gambol. 

They walk together through the silent woods. The clop of Gambol’s hooves is rhythmic against the dirt floor. When they reach the break in the trees, Yang can see Blake standing right where she left her next to the pond. Her eyes widen in surprise as Yang comes closer with her horse.

“You were right. She won’t let me ride her.” 

“Well, I’m surprised that she even let you lead her.” 

Yang hands the reigns to Blake, and their fingers brush against each other. She meets Blake’s golden eyes, the look she finds there is still hard for her to make heads or tails of.

“Told ya not to underestimate me,” she gives Blake a wink and turns back to finish her work with the property markers. As she walks away she thinks she hears Blake say “noted” under her breath, but it may have also just been the breeze ruffling the leaves in the trees.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! :)


	4. Chapter 4

“Xiao Long, you seem to have a way with people. What do you say to running our booth at the farmer’s market this weekend?” Ghira asks her one sunny Thursday afternoon while they’re cleaning up the storage shed together.

The farmer’s market takes place every Saturday in the park at the center of town. There are booths for almost every farm and restaurant in the area. Yang and Ruby almost always go together and do grocery shopping for the week ahead. It makes her happy to support local businesses. Putting money back into the community’s pocket is what keeps everything turning.

“I would love to, sir!” She’s excited to take on more responsibility. Compared to the manual labor she puts in daily, running the booth should be a cakewalk.

“Perfect! Blake will be there with you. I’ve been trying to get her to do some more work around the farm, and I feel like this will be suited to her,” he says as he moves the mower back into the corner it was in originally.

“Oh, um, that’s cool. I’m sure we’ll be able to make a lot of money!” She’s excited at the idea of spending the day with Blake.

“That’s the spirit, kid! You’ll do fine, I’m sure.”

-

Blake meets her at 7:00am on Saturday morning in front of Yang’s pickup. This is actually pretty late in the morning for Yang to be starting work, so she’s bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Blake, on the other hand, looks like she just got hit by a car. There are dark rings under her eyes and she’s got a large travel mug full of tea in her hands.

“It should be illegal to be awake this early,” she grumbles with her ears pressed back to her head.

Yang chuckles and opens the passenger door for Blake politely. She actually got here over an hour ago and packed up the truck full of the eggs, milk, and the produce they’re meant to sell.

“It’ll be an easy time, sweetheart. We’ll sell for a few hours and then call it a day.”

“I can’t believe I got stuck doing this on a Saturday,” she slides into the passenger seat and crosses her arms grumpily. She’s definitely not a morning person.

“Hanging out with me is that bad, huh?” Yang gives her a playful look as she turns the car on, the low purr of the engine filling the still morning air.

“No, it’s not you,” Blake says while looking out the window. She sounds...sad.

“Is everything okay?” Yang raises an eyebrow at the faunus, looking at her out of the corner of her eye.

“Yeah,” she says and pauses. “No. I don’t know. I just thought when I left for college I wouldn’t have to come back to this town. But here I am anyways.”

“Well, what’s so bad about it?”

“I don’t have great memories of living here.”

That’s vague. Yang decides to let the topic drop because she can tell that Blake is uncomfortable talking about it. They pull up to the park where the white sheet tents are already set up for the farmer’s market. Yang backs in the pickup close to the Menagerie Farms tent and they start to unload their supplies.

The morning is a bit more hectic than Yang had anticipated. Their booth is one of the most popular at the market, which makes sense since the Belladonna’s are the most widely renowned farmer’s in the county. In hindsight, she probably should have guessed that they would be busy. Still, she has a great time talking to the cute little old ladies and families that come by to get produce. Yang gets her cheeks pinched a couple of times as she’s fawned over by the elderly women who think she’s delightful. Blake watches and rolls her eyes with a small smile pulling at her lips.

They’re in very close quarters working in the small booth. Yang has to make a conscious effort to not run into Blake while they’re working next to each other.

At one point, Yang is ringing someone up for strawberries when Blake is bagging eggplants, and when she turns to grab a box of berries, she finds herself nose to nose with the girl. They’re inches away from each other’s faces, and she can’t help the instinct to glance down at Blake’s lips. They look full and soft. She snaps herself out of it when she looks back up to see a blush dusting the girl’s cheeks. Yang grabs the strawberries from behind Blake, arm brushing her waist as she reaches for them. She moves back to the customer, a smile gracing her face as she accepts payment and greets the next customer. She can even swear that she catches Blake checking out her ass as she goes to pick up a box of corn.

Yang can’t keep a smug smile off of her face for the rest of the morning. Maybe she has more of an effect on Blake than she thought. She’ll have to do some experimenting with this.

-

The next day, Yang makes sure to wear jeans to work with a t-shirt rather than her signature denim overalls. However, in the middle of the day when it’s the hottest, she sheds the shirt to reveal her black sports bra underneath. It’s purely _coincidence_ that she sees Blake sitting underneath the Angel Oak tree as she moves on to feed the pigs.

Yang’s not an idiot, she knows that she’s physically attractive. The amount of manual labor she does keeps her body strong and fit. It doesn’t hurt, when trying to woo a girl, that you let her know you have a six-pack.

She does her work as normal, sweat glistening on her skin as she carries the big tub of table scraps to dump into the trough. When she turns around she chances a look at Blake, and she makes eye contact with the faunus, her face partially hidden by her book. Blake’s eyes snap back down to her book instantly, but Yang knows what she saw. Blake was _watching_ her. Yeah, this is an interesting development.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it really a Bumbleby fic if Yang doesn’t show off her abs? Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

It's late in the morning when Yang is mucking out the horse stalls. She’s using a pitchfork to put the soiled straw bedding in a wheelbarrow and then cleans the concrete floor underneath with a disinfectant. She’s finished the stall of Ghira’s horse, who Sun has taken out to graze in the field, and Gambol’s stall is next. She opens the gate to her stall and gets to work taking out the straw, with only a small whinny of protest from the mare. She’s so focused on her work that she doesn’t hear the soft footsteps behind her.

“Good morning, Yang,” Blake says with a voice like honey.

She whips her head around to see her standing at the gate of the stall, hands clasped behind her back. Blake’s wearing another sundress today. This dress is a pretty purple color and it’s _sinfully_ short. Once she pulls her eyes away from her bare thighs, Yang realizes that this is the first time Blake has ever greeted her properly, and she’s thrown off by it.

“Good morning, Miss Belladonna. How can I help you?” Yang replies, looking at her expectantly. She must be here to ask her to do something.

“Oh, I just came to brush Gambol,” she points at the horse standing next to Yang.

“Of course! Sun’ll be takin’ her out in the field here in a minute so I can disinfect her stall, but you should have some time with her before that.”

Blake slips into the stall and begins to brush out her horse’s coat. Gambol seems to be enjoying herself, and they sit in a comfortable silence while they each do their own work. Yang starts to whistle a cheery little tune, and Blake gives her a weird look.

“What?”

“How are you always in such a good mood?” Blake asks with mock disgust.

Yang chuckles and continues to move the straw away with her pitchfork. “I ain’t got reason to be in a bad mood, especially when I get to work next to a beautiful woman,” she says with a wry smile.

“Wow. You’re a horrible flirt.” Blake rolls her eyes at the compliment.

Yang stands up straight with a hand on her hip, and takes a step closer to Blake. “I like to think I’m a pretty good flirt,” she says in a low voice.

To her surprise, Blake takes a step forwards into her space, and they’re almost nose to nose like they were at the farmer’s market. There’s something dangerous in her golden eyes.

“You’re pretty full of yourself, then.” She glances down at Yang’s lips and then back up to her eyes, like she’s daring her to do something. The smell of her perfume invades Yang’s senses and makes her head fuzzy.

Her lips look inviting, and Yang thinks back to what Sun said about messing around with Ghira’s daughter. Maybe this _is_ a bad idea. In the moment, though, she can’t really bring herself to give a shit. She’s about to take the plunge, leaning in to press her lips to Blake’s. Before she can, Sun comes marching back into the stables loudly with Ghira’s massive horse in tow.

“Hey, Yang! You done with the big man’s stall yet?” he practically yells.

Blake quickly moves away, ears pressed back in embarrassment as she goes back to brushing Gambol’s shoulders. Yang gives Sun a sharp glare, and he looks at her with confusion as he puts the horse back in his clean stall.

“I better get going,” Blake says airily with a final pat to her mare’s side.

“See ya,” Yang mumbles, still shooting dirty looks at Sun.

Once she’s sure Blake is out of earshot, she turns on Sun. “What the hell, man?”

“What? What did I do?”

“I think Blake wanted me to kiss her!”

 _“Ohhhhh,”_ he says, finally understanding.

 _“Yeah._ And I would have, if you hadn’t come barging in!”

“Well how was I supposed to know?!”

Yang pushes a hand into her bangs and shakes her head. “It’s fine. But I’m onto you, Wukong...you better not be sabotaging me just to get ten measly dollars.”

“I would never do that to you! All my bets are fair n’ square.” He looks offended that she would even suggest such a thing.

“They better be.” She grabs him into a headlock and holds him there for a second while he smacks at her arms to be let go. She finally releases him and grabs Gambol’s lead. “ _You_ can finish muckin’ out her stall, I’m gonna take her out to graze.”

“Yeah, okay. That’s fair.” He picks up the pitchfork to finish where she left off.

Yang guides Gambol into the big grassy field behind the stables. She takes a deep breath of the summer breeze and closes her eyes to clear her head. She hopes she didn’t misread that, and that Blake had actually wanted to kiss her. With her eyes closed all she can think about is Blake’s soft brown skin and the curves of her body. She needs to figure out what’s going on between them, or Blake Belladonna might just be the death of her.

-

When Yang is heading to her car to go home that evening, she sees Blake sitting on the front porch of the Belladonna house with a cup of sweet tea in hand. Dusk is falling slowly and the sky is gaining a purplish hue as the last bits of daylight fade into night. The crickets and frogs are harmonizing soothingly in the background. Yang catches her eye and gives her a wave.

“Goodnight!” she calls out into the air.

Blake smiles shyly and waves back, and Yang’s heart catches in her chest. Her pickup revs as the engine turns over and she drives off the Belladonna property, giving one last glance to Blake in her rear view mirror.

She decides she needs to be more proactive about this. Like Sun said, Blake is a _smart_ woman who has been to college, and knows things about art and literature. If Yang is gonna stand a chance against all that, she needs to stop beating around the bush and make it clear that she _wants_ Blake. Her mind is made up. She’s going to make a move.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will they finally kiss once Yang makes her move? Whooooo knows. Thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

The sky is covered in a thick blanket of grey clouds that extend as far as the eye can see, and the humidity in the air makes everything feel wet even though it hasn’t actually rained yet. Yang is fixing up part of the wooden fencing that runs along the field behind the stables. Some of the planks have rotted out, so she’s replacing them with fresh ones at the request of Ghira.

A calico barn cat comes strutting down the length of the fence, paws balancing carefully on the narrow surface. She meows at Yang and rubs her side against her arm as she passes by.

“Hey there, little lady.” Yang pauses in her hammering and strokes the cat’s chin and it leans into her touch happily. “You better get under some cover before the rain starts to come down.”

The cat meows at her again, and continues to walk down the fence, leaving Yang to her work. She pulls away another half rotted plank with the back of her hammer and starts to line up a new one. There’s movement out of the corner of her eye, and she turns to see Blake walking towards her from across the yard with a glass of lemonade in hand. She’s wearing another short sundress today, which Yang thinks is an interesting choice considering the weather forecast.

Blake hands the lemonade to Yang awkwardly, “Uh, my mom wanted me to give this to you.”

Yang stares at the glass of yellow lemonade, surprised that Kali thought of her. “Wow, I’ll have to thank her!”

“She thinks you work too hard.”

“Well, I guess that may be true. I would rather people say I work _too_ hard than the other way round, though.”

Just as Blake opens her mouth to respond, the clouds finally release a downpour of rain that they’ve been threatening to all day. She makes a loud (and adorable) noise of surprise, and Yang drops her tools onto the ground and grabs Blake’s hand in hers. They run through the rain all the way to the faded red storage shed, the closest shelter available. Yang throws the doors open and ushers Blake inside so that the girl can get out of the rain.

They’re both absolutely drenched, and Blake is pouting at her state. Her dress clings to her body (which is more than a little distracting) and her dark hair is slick against her head, all volume gone. Her black cat ears flick in order to get the water off of them.

“Just my luck,” Blake complains, looking miserable.

“It’s jus’ a little rain. I think there’s some towels in here somewhere, actually.” Yang begins to rummage through some of the shelves, looking for the towels that she remembers are kept here. She finally finds a few thin white ones and tosses a couple to Blake.

The faunus begins to pat her skin dry, and Yang decides to peel off her completely soaked t-shirt to allow it to dry, a sports bra left underneath. She takes a seat at the edge of the shed’s wooden floor, watching the rainfall over the fields. Yang can feel Blake’s eyes on her, and she sits down next to Yang after she’s dried herself off enough to be satisfied. They sit in companionable silence, listening to the patter against the tin roof of the shed, and the frogs croak happily at the blessing of the rain.

“We needed this rain. It’s been so dry lately,” Yang comments, breaking the silence.

Blake chuckles, “I suppose. I just wish it had waited until I got inside.”

Yang feels Blake’s thigh brush against hers, and she thinks the girl must have moved closer. She glances at her out of the corner of her eye, and marvels at Blake’s profile. She’s gorgeous.

Before she can think too hard about it, she blurts out, “I meant what I said the other day.”

Blake gives her a knowing smile, but plays dumb anyways. “What did you say?”

“That you’re beautiful.”

Her smile widens and she stands up, walking to the back of the shed with a finger on her chin.

“I bet you say that to all the girls you meet.”

Yang gets up and walks over to where Blake is looking at the shelves. She leans back against the wall, hands in her jean pockets.

“Can’t say I do. Only to you,” she admits casually.

“That’s not very professional, Xiao Long.” Whatever danger Yang saw in Blake’s eyes at the stables, it’s there again.

“I don’t recall saying I _wanted_ to be professional, Miss Belladonna.”

Her hands fall on Blake’s hips as she moves closer, the smell of the girl’s sweet perfume giving her courage to push forward. Blake’s eyes are half-lidded as Yang slowly closes the distance, and her long eyelashes flutter when she shuts them completely. Their lips find each other, and Blake’s mouth is soft against her own. Heat blooms in her belly and she pulls Blake close to her, so that they are flush together. Blake’s palm finds a place on Yang’s bare stomach, and everything but Blake’s lips and the sound of the rain exits her mind.

Rationally, she should stop this before it goes farther. She’s at _work_ , and to make it worse, she’s _technically_ on the clock. However, the small sounds Blake is making as she kisses her breathless are egging her on. She walks her back against the wall. Blake gasps as her back hits the wood, and her delicate hands are suddenly on Yang’s ass. Blake bites Yang’s lip sharply, and she gasps at the pain, but it only turns her on more. Yang moves to give attention to Blake’s neck, she sucks and bites against her pulse point. A hand hikes up Blake’s dress as she plays with the front of her panties.

Blake’s breath is coming heavy as Yang slips her hand under the hem of her underwear and drags a slow line along her opening with two fingers, not yet slipping inside. She spends time rubbing slow circles into Blake’s clit, building the girl up. Blake’s breath is coming in shallow pants now, and her hips move in time with Yang’s fingers. Her hands are gripping onto Yang’s strong back firmly, nails digging into her skin in an attempt to steady herself. Yang slips two, and then three, fingers fully inside of her and starts to pump in a rhythmic motion, matching the thrust of Blake’s hips, all while keeping pressure on her clit.

Watching Blake’s face as she fingers her is a next to godly experience. Her eyes are shut tight and her head is thrown back against the wall. Yang drags soft moans from her lips with her fingers, and she never wants them to stop.

She can tell Blake is about to come, but the sound of the dinner bell rings out across the yard. _Shit._ And sure enough, the rain has stopped, and the light has gotten low outside of the humid shed. She hadn’t realized it was that close to dinner already. She stops her ministrations on Blake’s body and moves away from her in a flash. Blake whines at the loss of Yang’s fingers and stares at her, still breathing heavily with her back against the wall. Her pupils are blown wide with lust.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. As much as I’d love to hear you finish, I really can’t get caught with you like this,” Yang explains as she puts her shirt back on.

“No, I agree. That wouldn’t be good for you,” she says, breath still shallow.

She sees a dark bruise blooming on Blake’s neck, a result of her earlier carelessness. _Fuck._

Yang sheepishly points to Blake’s neck, “You’ve got a…”

“I’ve got a what?” she asks, looking confused.

“A hickey.”

“What?!” She uses the reflection of the metal toolbox sitting on the shelf to look at her neck. “What the fuck, are we thirteen? Why would you give me a hickey?”

“Well, I didn’t hear a complaint at the time!” Yang blushes. She hadn’t meant to leave a mark, but it’s hard to control herself around Blake.

She groans in annoyance as she looks at her reflection. “I’ll use some makeup or something to cover it up.”

“Sorry,” Yang says, still embarrassed at the damage she caused.

“It’s okay. I expect you to make it up to me later, though.” And this catches Yang by surprise.

“Uhh, yes m’am.”

Blake fixes her dress and checks her hair in the reflection. Then she takes the almost completely full glass of lemonade (mixed with rainwater) that had been long forgotten and dumps it out onto the grass and starts to walk back towards the house. Yang watches her go, still shocked by what just happened.

She needs to find Sun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m changing the rating of this fic from M to explicit lol. Thanks for reading!


	7. Chapter 7

She and Sun both have the afternoon off, which is a rare occurrence for them. Ever since Yang moved to town, Sun has pretty much been her best (and only) friend. They decide to take advantage of being off at the same time, as well as the beautiful weather. They take Sun’s fishing boat out on the small body of water behind his trailer. It’s not the best pond for fishing, but Sun claims he can typically catch some decently sized Bluegill and a few bass here and there.

Yang has been itching to talk to Sun ever since her...encounter with Blake yesterday. She texted him about it a bit, but it’s really something they need to discuss in person. Yang takes an earthworm from the dirt in the plastic cup Sun brought and impales it on her hook, while Sun tries to make sense of what she’s telling him.

“Explain it to me one more time,” he says, scratching his head.

“Alright, so Blake and I had... _relations_ in the storage shed yesterday, and I accidentally gave her a hickey. She seemed pissed, but then she said she wants me to ‘make it up to her.’”

He snorts at her wording. “‘Had relations’, what is this, the forties?”

“Not the important part, Sun.” She casts her fishing line out into the water with a plop.

“Right, right. It sounds like you’ve won our bet!” He holds his fishing rod between his knees while he digs in his overall pocket for his wallet.

“I don’t want your damn money! I need to figure out what I’m supposed to do about Blake!” She smacks his arm to get him to put his wallet away.

“It sounds to me like she wants to do it again.”

“Yeah, that’s the vibe I got. I don’t know if it’s a good idea, though.” She eyes the water suspiciously as she feels a nibble on her line.

“I think the ‘good idea’ train has left the station, dude. You’re in it pretty deep.”

Yang feels a bite on the end of her line and slowly begins to reel it in. The fish begins to thrash as it reaches the surface of the water, and she can already tell that it’s too small. When it finally comes out of the water, she grabs the teeny bass and takes the hook out of its mouth. She throws it back into the pond and watches it disappear into the murky depths.

“What if Ghira finds out?”

“He’d probably skin ya alive,” he says bluntly and takes a swig of his beer.

She groans and puts another worm on her hook, getting ready to cast once more.

He continues, “Honestly though, who cares what Ghira thinks? Blake is her own woman, and it’s the twenty-first century, dammit. Her daddy ain’t in charge of her.”

“Feminist icon, Sun Wukong.” She laughs at him leans down to splash him with some pond water. “That still doesn’t help if I get my ass fired because I fucked my boss’s daughter.”

He scratches his chin thoughtfully. “What if you just keep it a secret?”

“What, like, sneak around with her?”

“Sure, why not? What Ghira don’t know won’t hurt him.”

She thinks about it. If Blake really is interested, that would be the best way to go about it.

“Hmmm, maybe. I guess we’ll see what happens when I see her again.”

A heron flies low across the water and lands on the bank, legs half submerged as it looks for small fish to pluck from the shallows. Yang’s mind wanders to Blake’s face. The roundness of her cheeks, her full lips, her beautiful golden eyes. This is going to be risky, there’s no doubt. But she thinks it might be worth the risk.

“Just be careful, Yang. You’re playing with fire.” He tips his beer towards her in warning.

“Oh trust me, I _know,_ ” she assures him. She feels another bite on her line and begins to reel it in. If only life were as simple as fishing.

-

The next day, Yang sees Blake sitting in her normal spot underneath the Angel Oak tree. The sun is dappled through the shade of the leaves and leaves a pattern that covers Blake and the ground around her. She walks over casually and leans back against the trunk of the tree, scuffing the ground with her boot.

“Shouldn’t you be working?” Blake inquires jokingly as she shuts her book slightly to look up at her.

“I’ve got a few minutes. Wondered if you could talk,” she’s nervous and it’s apparent in her voice.

“Sure,” Blake replies, closing her book completely and looking up at Yang expectantly.

“So the other day...it was kind of a heat of the moment thing.” She wipes the sweat off the back of her neck and keeps her eyes trained on the dirt.

“...Yeah?”

“I don’t know if you regret it or not.”

“Why would I regret it?”

“I...um, I don’t know if you’ve ever done anything like that before?”

Blake eyes widen in understanding. “I’m not a virgin, Yang. I went to college.”

“Wow, I didn’t know they teach you that kind of thing in college...” she trails off, genuinely surprised. There must be a lot about higher education that she doesn’t know. She really should have finished high school.

“No,” Blake puts a hand to her forehead, “I mean that’s the kind of thing you typically _do_ while you’re in college.”

“Oh,” she says lamely, feeling dumb.

“Do _you_ regret it?” Blake asks with a raised eyebrow.

“Gods, no.”

Blake smiles shyly at her and opens her book back up, a blush on her cheeks. “Then I suppose it’s something we could keep doing,” she says it like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“Uh, y-yeah, if that’s what you want,” Yang stammers, taken aback at the simplicity of it all.

“Sure. You can’t give me any more hickies, though.”

“Got it. You’re somethin’ else, Miss Belladonna,” Yang says as she gives her a goofy smile.

“Thank you. Now go get back to work before my dad comes looking for you.” She kicks her foot out and taps the steel toe of Yang’s boot lightly.

That sentence hits her like a bucket of ice water, and she remembers that she’s on the clock.

“Yes m’am.” Yang nods and jogs back over to where she left off at the goat pen.

Her mind is lost in thought as she starts to scoop up the goat droppings with a large shovel. This is definitely a bad idea, but Yang is used to having plenty of those. This town is small and there aren’t that many girls like Blake: smart, pretty, and a wit to boot. She isn’t the type of girl that Yang is gonna meet every day, so she thinks she probably shouldn’t pass up this opportunity.

One of the kids headbutts her shin, bleating loudly in a protest for food. Rolling her eyes, she pats his head and feels the nubs where his horns are starting to come in. An unusually cool breeze flows through the air, and Yang stands up straight to squint at the color of the leaves in the trees. She sees the faintest sliver of orange on a leaf close to the bottom, hinting that autumn is on its way.

-

They absolutely do it again. In the barn, against a tree, Yang even takes the girl to her and Ruby’s shared trailer on one occasion. Ghira is out of town at a crop-growing convention, and Yang figures it’s the best time for them to actually be in private without raising much suspicion.

She finishes up her work for the day and meets Blake by her yellow pickup. She has a black duffel bag in hand, which Yang figures probably has a change of clothes and a toothbrush inside.

“I told my mom we were having a ‘girl’s night.’” She chuckles and throws her bag into the bed of the truck.

Yang slides into the driver’s side. “Well, that’s not exactly a lie!”

“Exactly, that’s why it’s the perfect cover,” she says with an evil look on her face as she shuts the door behind her.

Yang cranks the car on and rolls down the windows slightly to let some air flow through the car and cool it off after a hot day of boiling in the sun. She turns on the radio and the soft strums of a banjo play as the sounds of bluegrass fill the truck. Yang starts to hum along to the song, and Blake smiles at her and rests her head against the glass. Pastures with all colors of horses and cows roll by through the window.

“I’ve gotta warn you, our home ain’t much,” Yang says hesitantly.

“I’m not going to your house for the _decor,_ Yang.”

“I know, I know. It’s just not gonna be what you’re used to.” She’s well aware that Blake grew up with a silver spoon in her mouth. Their family makes enough money off the farm that they could buy the entire town if they wanted to.

“I’m sure I’ll love it.”

-

Ruby and Yang don’t own much. Their father was a bit of a hippy, believing in a minimalist lifestyle which he passed on to his kids before he died. The trailer they live in is small, and the smell of cigarette smoke clings to the walls from those who rented it before them. They’ve made guesses as to how old it is. Yang thinks it was maybe put together in the seventies, but Ruby thinks it goes back as far as the early sixties. Blake, however, takes it all in stride.

She and Blake are fooling around in the early evening when Ruby comes waltzing through the door to Yang’s room, completely unaware.

“AHH!” Ruby shrieks and slams the door shut just as quickly as she had opened it.

Yang sits up, legs straddling Blake’s hips. “Shit. I didn’t think she was s’posed to be off work till late.”

Blake sighs in annoyance at the interruption and pulls out her phone to check her apps. “Go talk to her.”

Yang gives Blake an embarrassed smile and puts her shirt back on, following Ruby out the door and where she ran into the living room. She’s still wearing her red polo shirt with her name tag affixed to it that reads: _‘Hi, my name is Ruby! Ask me about our sales!’_

She looks like she just got shot, mouth hanging open. “Why is _Blake Belladonna_ half-naked in _your_ bedroom?!”

“Yeah, see, I can explain that…” she tries to stall for time, but she’s got nothing. “Okay, so I can’t explain it. We’re kind of hooking up.”

“Do you like her?”

Yang’s eyes almost pop out of her head at the question, and she grabs Ruby’s arms and leads her to the hallway on the opposite side of the trailer from her bedroom. One of the many downsides to renting out this place for cheap is the paper thin walls.

“Do I _what?_ ” Yang whispers sharply.

“Do you _like_ her?” Ruby whispers back, louder than should technically be considered a whisper.

“Yeah...she’s pretty cool, I guess.”

“But you’re not dating, right?” Ruby is thinking hard and it looks like she’s doing mental math.

“No. We’ve kind of got a no-strings deal going on.” When they had talked about what to label their relationship, there was a quiet assumption that it’s probably best not to get into anything serious, especially when Blake will be going back to school in less than a year.

Ruby nods her head as if she’s decided something. “Okay, that’s fine.”

“I wasn’t asking for your permission!” Yang says defensively.

“No! I mean, if you guys were like, _dating_ , and you ever broke up, you might get fired and that would be really bad for the both of us.” She gestures between them. “It took you long enough to find this job! Imagine if you had to start looking again.”

Yang _has_ thought about that. Extensively. In this small town there are almost no jobs that pay well enough that aren’t already filled. It was a stroke of luck that she was able to snag the interview at Menagerie Farms. She hadn’t, however, thought about Blake being the one who tells Ghira to fire her. In her mind, it’s always Ghira finding out about them and firing Yang on the spot.

“Don’t worry, it’s just a casual thing.”

“Just be careful,” Ruby says cautiously.

Yang nods and turns to walk back to her bedroom where she knows Blake is waiting. The mood is dead, so they decide to watch a movie instead. Yang turns on the small box TV in her room. Blake is shocked to discover that Yang owns an honest-to-god VHS player.

“Listen, it came with the house. Don’t judge.” She pushes an old black and white western movie into the player.

“I’m not judging, I just haven’t seen one of these since I was a kid!” Blake’s face lights up as she inspects the many VHS tapes Yang has collected since they moved here. She looks really fucking adorable.

Yang mentally kicks herself for thinking that, and settles back down on the bed next to Blake. They laugh together at the cheesy effects of the old movie, and before the end of it, Blake’s head is resting on her shoulder. Yang turns to look at her, only to find that Blake’s eyes are already on her. In the darkness of her room all she can see is the low light of the TV screen illuminating Blake’s features, and she’s beautiful.

Blake leans up to press a slow kiss to her lips, it’s innocent and it doesn’t progress into anything else. Blake’s just kissing her because she can, and if Yang was crazy, she’d say it feels like it’s more than just casual.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Longer chapter! This is the last of the pre-written stuff I have, so updates may take more time in the future. Shout out to my best friend who doesn’t care about RWBY for beta-reading this chapter for me. Thanks for reading!
> 
> Also follow me at my new fanfic twitter if you want @rowanoakk


	8. Chapter 8

Blake starts to hang around her while she’s working. Yang thinks that hanging out when they’re not having sex might be blurring the lines a little bit, but she enjoys the girl’s company so she doesn’t say anything.

She’s mucking out the horse stalls again while Blake sits cross-legged on a large bale of hay reading a book. It’s still technically summer, but the weather has taken a turn for the cooler, making it nice enough to actually enjoy the outdoors. Gambol stretches her long neck over the fence of the stall and nudges Yang’s pant leg with her nose.

“I think she likes you,” Blake says as she looks up from the page she’s on.

“Nah, I think she’s checking to see if I got any apples on me,” she laughs and extends her hand slowly to pet the mare on the muzzle. Surprisingly, Gambol allows it, then snorts and moves away back to her stall.

“Either way, she isn’t that skittish around you anymore. I’m glad. She’s been like that around strangers since she was a foal.”

“I ain’t exactly a stranger anymore,” Yang says with a smile and a wink.

Blake rolls her eyes. “You’d be surprised. She barely lets Sun near her without a fight, and he’s worked here for years.”

Yang laughs. “She must be a decent judge of character, then!”

“Ooh, I’ll tell him you said that,” Blake says mischievously.

“Go ahead. He should know that I don’t like him!” she smiles at the blatant lie and continues to swipe away the soiled straw bedding.

The sun shines in through the window, angling directly into Blake’s face. She squints at the light and gets up to lean against the fence and ogle Yang’s muscles while she works.

“What was it like growing up in a place like this?” Yang asks. She can’t imagine having this much. They grew up with practically nothing, thanks to their father’s life philosophy and also the fact that they were dirt poor.

“Boring, mostly,” she answers flatly.

“Really? I woulda been running around all over with the other kids, y’all have so much land.”

“I mostly kept to myself. I stayed inside and read a lot.”

“Well, all that reading paid off. You went to college!” Yang says with an unsure smile. Blake seems to be withdrawing in on herself at the mention of her childhood.

“You should tell that to my father,” Blake says, frowning.

“I take it he don’t approve?”

“He thinks college is a waste of money. He’d much rather me stay _here_ for the rest of my life and take over the farm when he gets old.” Blake’s ears droop at the thought.

“What do you want to do when you’re done with school?” she asks quickly, trying to be as subtle as she can about changing the subject.

Blake perks up at the question. “I’d really like to teach! My bachelor’s is in English, but I’m going to grad school for education. I love kids, I really want to make a difference in their lives, ya know?”

Yang melts at the passion in her voice. She can tell that Blake wants to do important things, and this kind of life isn’t suited to that. Life on the farm moves slow. The tedious day-in and day-out doesn’t seem like something she would like. Yang, however, craves that kind of routine.

“You’d be a great teacher, Miss Belladonna,” Yang says earnestly, but there’s a hint of playfulness in her voice. She sets her pitchfork against the wall and leans over the gate to press a kiss to Blake’s neck.

Blake smiles and pushes her away, her nose wrinkled in disgust. “Thank you. No offense, though, but you smell like a horse.”

Yang sniffs her shirt, and she can see where Blake is coming from. “Alright then, I’ll keep my hands to myself.” She huffs and picks up her pitchfork to continue her work.

Blake laughs and pulls her back in to kiss her on the cheek. “I’m going to go see if my mom needs help with lunch, but come find me after you’ve showered.” She throws a wink over her shoulder as she leaves, and Yang can’t help but shiver with anticipation as she watches her go.

-

In the late afternoon Yang is riding with Ghira in his tractor down the length of the cornfields. As the summer is coming to a close, Ghira is beginning to think ahead to the arrival of autumn. The Belladonna’s always do a big corn maze during October and November that is a hit with the community. Today, he is taking Yang along with him while he inspects the growth of the corn to make sure that they’re on track to be fully developed by harvest.

Ghira puts the tractor in park next to the stalks, and hops off. He gestures for Yang to follow him as he approaches the corn. He does a quick measurement of the height of the stalk with a small tape measurer he keeps in his front overall pocket. He then breaks off an ear from the stalk with a calloused hand, he holds it out to Yang.

“Xiao Long, do you know how to tell if corn is ready to be picked?”

She shakes her head as she takes the vegetable in hand. “Can’t say I do, sir. Haven’t had the opportunity to work much with crops.”

“So when these guys are close to being done, they get these silk hairs on the top of ‘em, and when those turn brown, you know they’re ready,” he says as he points at the top of the ear in her hand. “Shuck that one for me.”

Yang obediently pulls back the fresh green husk, to reveal the kernels inside. To her surprise, the kernels are clear.

“You also want to wait until the kernels are a milky color, ‘cause then you know for sure that they’re good and ready to be eaten. These stalks look like they’ll be tall enough by fall for the corn maze.”

A big smile splits on Yang’s face at the new information. Knowledge and experience are powerful tools when you’re working on a farm. If she’s being honest, her dream is to one day own her own small farm, and having Ghira as her mentor has helped in ways that money never could.

“Wow, thank you for showing me! I didn’t know any of that,” she says happily as she hands the corn back to him.

“You’re quite welcome, miss. It makes me happy that you care about this stuff. I wish my daughter were more like you,” Ghira admits as he swings back into the driver seat.

Yang chuckles, “Yeah well, she’s got her own interests! Your daughter is too smart for her own good.”

Ghira’s brow furrows as they ride slowly back to the farm. “I want to give her all of _this_ , and she doesn’t want _any_ of it,” he gestures to the farm’s skyline as they break through the corn fields.

She starts to realize that this is becoming a more serious conversation than she thought. “Farming just ain’t for everyone, I suppose,” she says casually, trying to get him to lighten up.

“This farm has been in our family for _generations_ , Xiao Long. She sure as hell better wisen up, learn that it _is_ for her, and give up on this ‘college’ crap. She doesn’t need to go to school for two more years when we need her help here.” His voice is raised, and while Yang may not be as smart as someone like Blake, she knows when to shut her mouth. They ride in silence back to the house, and she thinks that if Ghira knew how passionate Blake is about teaching, he might change his mind.

-

Once Yang has showered in the small bath house behind the main household, she finds herself below Blake’s bedroom window, tossing pebbles gently at the glass. It’s a one story house, so she shouldn’t have any problems climbing through the window. Blake pulls the curtain away with a confused look, but when she sees Yang she smiles and opens the window.

“Are you clean?” she calls to Yang.

Yang points to her still drying hair. “Just got out of the shower. Let me in!”

Blake gestures for her to haul herself through the open window. Yang obeys and is inside of the room within seconds. Blake’s childhood bedroom is exactly what Yang expected it would be. There are books _everywhere_ , and on the stand next to her bed is a framed photo of a young Blake smiling brightly with her mother and father, a front tooth missing from her mouth. She looks...really happy. Yang wonders what happened to that version of her.

Blake snakes her arms around Yang’s waist and rests her head on her strong shoulder, glancing down at the picture.

“I think I was eight when that was taken,” she mumbles into the fabric of Yang’s shirt, breathing in the smell of her shampooed hair.

“You were a cute kid,” Yang says with a fond smile as she turns to give Blake a kiss on the cheek

Blake scoffs at this and moves away from her to lie back on the bed. Her hands find a place on her stomach as she regards the farmhand standing in the middle of her room. Yang fiddles with her shirt awkwardly but then moves to sit next to Blake. The bed dips as she settles in, and the warmth of Yang’s body next to hers is comforting.

“I talked to your dad a bit today about you. You’re right, he really ain’t keen on you going back to school.”

Blake sighs and shuts her eyes. “If he won’t pay for it, I’m going to take out loans and get a job. I’m not going to let him keep me here.”

She feels a sharp pang at the thought of Blake leaving. The amount of disdain she has for this town doesn’t make much sense to her, but she knows there’s reasons for it Blake hasn’t shared yet.

“I mean, it’s not all bad, right?” Yang asks hopefully. She hopes that Blake at least finds some sort of comfort in their friendship.

Blake moves to lay on her side and smiles at her. She knows exactly what Yang is asking.

“No, not all of it. I’ve met some pretty cool people,” she leans in and kisses her softly.

Yang chuckles and a smile breaks over her face during the kiss. “Wow, you gotta introduce me to them sometime.”

Blake pulls back and rolls her eyes playfully. She lies back and stares at the ceiling, a frown slowly settling on her face as she gets lost in thought. Yang joins her in staring at the ceiling, and she reaches down carefully to grasp Blake’s hand in her own. She doesn’t know exactly why Blake is so dead set on leaving this town behind completely, but she does know that she wants her to be happy. Rationally, she knows that eventually Blake will leave, and that will mean leaving her behind as well. What they have is nothing more than a fling, and she’s known that since they started. But all of this rationalizing does nothing to ease the dull pain in her chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the super delayed update! I’ve been busy as hell with life stuff. Will try to update more frequently. Hope everyone is staying safe! Thanks for reading!


	9. Chapter 9

Autumn arrives slowly but surely. The humidity sticks around while the temperature steadily falls and the days grow shorter. The leaves begin to drop and litter the ground with shades of brown and orange.

Yang assists Ghira and Sun as they use the tractor to cut trails into the cornfield, prepping it for the well anticipated maze that will bring families aplenty to get lost in its depths. Ghira flies a small drone overhead while Sun and Yang await his instructions on where exactly to drive the tractor in order to cut the design into the field. It’s a tedious job that requires strict attention to detail, but the end result is something that Yang is proud of. They crowd around Ghira’s phone screen while he pilots the buzzing drone over the maze. By the view from the sky, she can clearly see the words “Menagerie Farms” cut into the corn, accompanied by a large jack-o-lantern that Kali designed with winding paths all throughout it.

“I think we did a mighty fine job!” Sun remarks enthusiastically.

“Damn right we did,” Ghira confirms with a smile. “Now, we’re gonna need all hands on deck when we open up the corn maze next week. We get a lot of people comin’ through our gates this time of year, so we need to put our best faces on.”

Yang and Sun nod in agreement. She feels a giddy excitement in her chest that she hasn’t felt about autumn since she was a kid carving pumpkins with her dad and Ruby. 

-

The thrum of her truck cuts off as she parks in the lot that Ghira had Sun mark off for the corn maze. Yang had a short amount of time after her day shift to run to her house and get changed into a costume before she needed to be back to help work the corn maze.

Yang is dressed as a scarecrow this year. Her father’s old straw hat sits atop her head and a healthy layer of face paint coats her cheeks and nose. She spots Sun at the admissions table, he’s dressed in an old karate uniform. The front is open to show off his abs; Yang shakes her head at him.

“You really must be allergic to being fully clothed,” she remarks with a smile as she rolls her flannel sleeves up to the elbow. 

He smirks and takes a swig from his apple cider that’s been dripping a ring of condensation onto the table. “What station are you working tonight?”

“I’m pretty sure Ghira wants me at the apple shoot,” she replies.

Sun gasps in envy, “Aw man, I wanted to do the apple shoot. That’s way more fun than passing out some fuckin’ tickets.”

Yang raises her eyebrows at him and nods her head at a mother and her two small children that had just walked up to buy tickets. Sun smiles sheepishly and apologetically to the young mother. She scowls at him and hands him a ten dollar bill. He fumbles to rip a couple of tickets off of the big red roll. 

“Alright, y’all make sure to hold onto these, now! We’ll have a few raffles tonight, and you could win some special prizes!” He leans down and hands each child their ticket, which they grip onto excitedly. His choice of words has clearly gone over their heads.

Their mother shepherds them towards the pumpkin painting table. Yang looks up and sees Blake crouched next to a group of children painting their pumpkins. There’s laughter coming from the kids and beaming smiles on their faces. Yang’s heart flutters at the sight of Blake in her element, working with children. 

“Keep that mouth clean, Wukong. We got kids here. Don’t make me get Kali to wash your mouth out with soap,” Yang laughs at him and steals a sip of his cider before finding her way over to Blake. 

Upon getting closer, she can see that Blake is dressed as a vampire. She has two white fangs poking out from under her lip, and a bit of fake blood smeared on the corner of her mouth. Yang bumps Blake’s hip with her own when she sidles up next to her. 

“Looking  _ very  _ scary,” she says with only a hint of sarcasm.

Blake looks up from her work in surprise. She gives Yang a soft smile, her fangs becoming clearly visible. “Well, you’re looking absolutely adorable,” she replies, giving Yang a light boop on her red-painted nose

“Ah,” she bats Blake’s hand away, “don’t mess up my face paint!”

Blake giggles and Yang’s heart grows warm at the sound. “Don’t worry, you’re fine. You’re so dramatic.”

Yang grins cheekily at her, then she looks down to see a small redheaded girl tugging on Blake’s pant leg, trying to get her attention. The girl raises her pumpkin high above her head to get Blake’s approval

“I’ll let you get back to it, I gotta get the apple shoot set up,” Yang places a hand to the small of Blake’s back as she moves to leave.

“Come find me later!” Blake calls after her. Yang turns and gives her a wink, but sees that Blake has already turned to congratulate the little girl on her beautifully painted pumpkin. Yang thinks it’s funny that Blake would even have to ask her to come see her later, as if it wasn’t already implied.

-

Yang begins to set up the apple-shoot at the start of the treeline, not too far away from the main events, but far enough away that a stray apple won’t clock someone in the head. There’s a large metal ladder lying in the grass. Ghira must have set it out for her. Yang maneuvers the ladder over the low wooden fence, then hops it herself. 

She climbs the ladder and ties tin pie pans to the lower hanging branches of the pine trees. The goal of the apple shoot is to fling an apple using the large slingshot (of Ghira’s own design) and aim to hit one of the pie pans. It’s not exactly a science, but there are some fun prizes for anyone who is lucky enough to hit a pan. Yang takes a few steps back, her boots crunching the dead leaves that litter the ground. She admires her handy work and hops back over the fence.

There’s lots of excitement throughout the evening, but the raffle is the highlight of the night. Many small prizes are given away, like Menagerie Farms t-shirts and cups, as well as a date-night bundle for the local theater. A thought pops into Yang’s head about taking Blake to the theater at some point, but she squashes it quickly. The grand prize of the night is the brand new dirt bike that Ghira picked out himself. It’s flashy and a bright cherry red. There’s no doubt in her mind that it’s  _ fast _ . The winner of the dirt bike turns out to be a five-year-old whose eyes are close to popping out of his skull when his ticket number is called. He runs up to the stage to claim his prize, an extremely worried mother in tow. Even though Yang is a little ways away from raffle, she can still hear the wave of laughter from the crowd as he tries to hop onto it right away, and is quickly grabbed by his mother.

Many challengers try to take on the apple shoot, with only a handful actually able to hit any of the pans. At the price of five dollars for three shots, Yang makes a good bit of money. The fanny pack that Ghira gave her is close to bursting by closing time.

The faint purple light left in the sky fades to black as all the customers funnel out towards the exit. The first night of the corn maze was a big success as far as Yang can tell. She moseys on over to where she sees Blake putting the last bit of painting supplies away. 

Yang grabs the last two bottles of acrylic paint and hands them to her. “I was told to come find you, so here I am.”

Blake’s eyes glint with something mischievous, “Wanna go check out the maze?”

“Are we allowed to do that after closing?” 

“When else would we? Also, it’s _ way _ more fun in the dark,” Blake squeezes her arm and Yang thinks she knows where this is going.

Yang lowers her voice, looking over her shoulder briefly, “Blake. I’m not fucking you in the corn maze.” 

“God, you have such a dirty mind, that is  _ not  _ what I’m implying. I don’t understand why that would even be a stretch, considering we’ve done it in the barn. Come on, It’ll be fun!” She interlinks her fingers with Yang’s and drags her towards the entrance of the maze.

Yang is going to protest, but her brain short-circuits the second Blake holds her hand. Her hand is chilly, and it feels pleasant in Yang’s warm one. Blake pulls out her phone with her free hand and turns the flashlight on. 

“I hope you don’t have anywhere to be tonight. It’s possible we’re going to get very lost,” Blake states with a squeeze to Yang’s hand.

“Nowhere else I’d rather be,” she says a little too honestly. 

They find their way through the corn, hands clasped together the entire time. Blake leads them, but Yang quickly comes to the conclusion that she has no method for getting them out of the maze. The longer they go, the farther away the lights from the house get

“So you’re really just getting us thoroughly lost, huh?” Yang asks eventually.

“Where’s the fun in getting out right away?”

Yang hums in agreement and rubs her thumb along Blake’s hand. An act a bit too intimate for two people who are  _ not _ in a relationship. If Blake thinks anything of it, she doesn’t say anything. 

They come to an intersection in the corn, and Blake pauses. Yang watches her consider which path to take. Her ear flicks as she concentrates. Yang glances up at the moonless night sky, the stars are shining as bright as she’s ever seen them. She reaches for Blake’s other hand, gently grabbing her phone and turning off the light. Blake’s eyes float upwards as Yang points to the sky. They sit in silence and watch a shooting star streak across the inky expanse.

“I suppose there is one thing I missed about living here. You never have night skies like this in the city,” Blake says wistfully.

“Yeah,” Yang says slowly. “You think you’ll miss it when you leave?” She chances a glance at Blake, trying to read her expression, but it’s too dark to see anything.

There’s a pause. “I think there are a couple of things I’ll miss,” she answers finally. Yang doesn’t have to ask, her meaning is clear.

A cool hand finds its way to Yang’s cheek, and Blake’s soft lips touch hers. The kiss doesn’t last very long before Blake’s vampire fangs get in the way, making it awkward to continue. Yang chuckles and moves to kiss Blake on the cheek. Blake laughs too and goes to flick her phone flashlight back on. From the glow of it Yang can see that a good bit of her facepaint is now smudged around her friend’s face, but she elects not to say anything. They’ll deal with it later.

Right now, all Yang wants to do is walk hand-in-hand with this girl that she can’t quite figure out, and get even more lost in the depths of the corn maze. And that’s exactly what they do.

-

The next evening Yang is slumped over Sun’s kitchen counter while he stirs a pot of pumpkin soup. They had decided to have a bros’ night, and he had some leftover pumpkin in his fridge ready to go. However, Yang’s sulking is really bringing down the vibe. She groans and juts out her bottom lip pathetically.

“Come on, Xiao Long. Your whining isn’t gonna do anything to fix the situation,” Sun calls back over his shoulder.

“Yeah, maybe not. But it’s all I can do.” She grabs a pinch of the fancy shredded smoked cheese that Sun had bought to put on top of the soup, and throws it in her mouth.

Sun gasps and snatches the package out of her reach, “Hey! I paid a lot for this!” 

Yang sighs and thunks her forehead back down onto the counter.

“Are you absolutely sure she only wants to be casual? From what it sounds like, y’all don’t have a casual thing going on,” Sun asks carefully, not wanting to upset her any more.

“I don’t know, I thought it was only supposed to be casual, but I don’t think I can keep my feelings in-check any longer.”

“Tell me  _ exactly  _ what she said when y’all talked about this little arrangement. Did you ever set up boundaries?” Sun sets a bowl of delicious-smelling pumpkin soup in front of her, and sprinkles the expensive white cheese on top.

“I mean, we never actually explicitly laid things out...I guess I just kind of assumed this is what she wanted based on how she talked about it,” Yang replies, taking a large spoonful of soup and shoveling it into her mouth.

Sun punches her in the arm,  _ hard _ , which causes her to jump and almost drop her spoon. “Ouch? What the fuck, dude?” Yang winds her arm up, ready to hit him back.

“You’re a goddamn idiot, man.  _ Talk _ to her, tell her how you feel!” Sun dodges her punch and moves to grab a bowl for himself.

“But what if that ruins everything?”

“What if it doesn’t?” Sun fires back.

She likes what she has with Blake, but it’s becoming painful not knowing exactly what’s going on between them. If Blake leaves for school in the spring and they never talk again, Yang’s not sure if she could handle it. As dumb as he can be, Sun might have a point. Better to rip the bandage off now, instead of being left in the dark forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY...long time no-see... Sorry for not updating this fic for six months. I've been dealing with a lot of mental stuff and just a lack of inspiration for writing since the pandemic hit. If you're here, thanks for sticking with this story. I plan on updating this fic more frequently, but I am still dealing with a lot of shit, so please bear with me! A shoutout to my girlfriend for motivating me to work on this story. Hope y'all enjoy this seasonally appropriate chapter!


	10. Chapter 10

It’s a genuinely chilly morning on the farm when Yang is running an inspection on the chicken coops. With the weather becoming colder by the day, she’s got to make sure that the structures are prepared for the winter. No matter how mild Vale’s winters may be in comparison to places up north, there are still some nights where the temperatures will drop below freezing.

She methodically searches the outside of the coops, looking for any obvious cracks that cold air can seep through. Then she will add more straw to the nesting area and make sure the heat lamps that Sun installed last month are working properly. Yang pokes her head into the coop to see the hens cuddled up on the roosts inside. It’s still too early for them to beg for food, so they remain peaceful and drowsy until the sun starts to rise. The speckled gray hen that Sun had affectionately named “Pantaloon” opens her eyes and clucks softly as Yang begins to fill the floor of the coop with fresh straw. Yang strokes her feathers and coos at her.

“You’re such a pretty chicken. Now, don’t tell the other girls, but I think you’re my favorite,” she whispers quietly while she pets Pantaloon. The hen fluffs up her feathers and closes her eyes to go back to sleep. After she’s done refreshing the straw, the sun finally starts to peak over the tree line. She backs out of the coop and moves to grab the bag of feed and the small blue bucket of table scraps that Kali gave her the previous day.

Upon hearing the feed bag, the hens begin to stumble out of their house, their clucks growing in volume as they rouse from their sleepy haze. Yang casts the feed and table scraps out onto the ground, then returns back to the empty coop to check the heat lamps. It is very important that the heat lamps are inspected once a week, lest they malfunction and start a fire. After she assures that the lamps are in working order, she sits on the ramp of the coop and watches the sun continue to rise. The sky slowly turns golden as the rays from the sun burst over the trees and warm the dewy ground below.

Yang thinks back to her talk with Sun last week. What did she really expect to happen if she confessed her feelings to Blake? Worst case scenario, Blake laughs in her face and stops talking to her altogether. Best case scenario...well, Yang hadn’t really thought about a best case scenario. Is a best case scenario even feasible? If Blake does return her feelings, what do they do from there? Would they start a relationship only to be torn apart by distance when Blake leaves for school? Yang doesn’t think Blake would give up going to graduate school just to be with her. Hell, she doesn’t _want_ Blake to do that. Her head begins to hurt just as much as her heart does the more she thinks about it.

-

The rest of the day goes by in a haze; Yang is so distracted by her thoughts that she nearly gets kicked by Ghira’s horse while cleaning out his back horseshoe. It takes almost getting kicked in the head by a horse for Yang to realize that she needs to get a grip. She’s not a child, if she has feelings for the girl, she needs to just tell her. She forms a plan in her head. She’ll ask Blake to come to dinner at her place tomorrow night. Then, over dinner, she can tell her how she feels.

After work, she waits at the Angel Oak tree where she first saw Blake. Yang isn’t quite sure how this routine started, but they’ve started meeting up there when she is done for the day, and then occasionally they’ll head over to Yang’s home. She leans back against the trunk of the tree, trying to work out in her head exactly what she’s going to say when she invites Blake over. It has to be casual enough to not blatantly be a date, but not _too_ casual to suggest that it _isn’t_ a date. Yang waits for a while, but she never comes. Just as she starts to look at her phone to see if she missed a text from Blake, she hears what sounds like yelling coming from the Belladonna house.

Yang can’t make out the words, but she knows she can hear Blake’s voice. Then a deeper voice that sounds like Ghira’s. Just as she’s about to move closer, the front door bursts open with a slam. Blake storms out and stomps angrily in the direction of the pond. Yang follows after her, concerned about what just happened inside the house.

When she finally catches up, Blake is sitting at the edge of the water, legs pulled up against her chest. At Yang’s approach she whips her head around with a glare, which takes Yang by surprise, but Blake’s eyes seem to soften slightly when she realizes who it is. Yang takes a seat next to her and picks up a flat stone, skipping it across the water.

They sit in a comfortable silence for a moment before Yang speaks. “So what was that all about?”

Blake’s brow is furrowed and her face is red from either anger or from crying. Yang figures it might be both. Blake wipes her eyes quickly before speaking.

“My father is just a jackass. He basically screamed at me out of nowhere about school and how he wants me to stay on the fucking farm.”

“Oh,” Yang replies in understanding.

“I wish he would just support me and not try to keep me in this place. Just because he wanted to limit his options and stay in this backwater town doesn’t mean that I have to.” Blake’s eyes are full of contempt for her father.

“Yeah, I mean, he should really recognize your potent-,”

Blake cuts her off, not acknowledging that Yang had even spoken. “I’m not going to stay and rot in this town with all of these deadbeat, good for nothing, lowlife hicks for the rest of my life just like _he’s_ doing.”

Yang’s heart sinks, but then she feels an anger rise to the surface. Fuck this. It’s plain as day what Blake thinks of her. There’s virtually no difference between herself and everyone else that lives in Beacon. She gets up and starts walking back towards her car.

Blake turns to look up at her, her own anger seemingly vanished and replaced with confusion.

“Where are you going?” 

“Home,” Yang calls back, her voice tinged with irritation, not even bothering to turn around. 

“What’s wrong? Are you mad at me?” Blake asks while hurriedly getting up to jog after her.

Yang stops and turns to face her. Blake is only standing a few feet away, but the distance between them feels like miles. “I don’t know why I thought a girl like you would ever want to slum it with a ‘deadbeat hick’ like me, but don’t worry, you’ve made yourself very clear.”

“I wasn’t talking about _you_ , Yang” Blake scoffs, not understanding what it is she had said that made Yang upset.

“Who were you talking about then? Are you talking about Sun…or Ruby? ‘Cause I ain't no different from the rest of those ‘good for nothing's’ you’re on about, so who _exactly_ are you talking about, Blake?” Yang turns on her heel and continues to walk away. 

“Yang, come on, stop! You know I didn’t mean it like that!” Blake shouts after her. Yang doesn’t turn back, the anger inside of her too large to continue the conversation.

She slams her car door and rests her head against the wheel. There was never a chance in hell that this was going to turn out good for her. She knew Blake was leagues above her the moment she laid eyes on her. Hell, even Sun knew it.

Yang picks her head up and starts her car. Her thoughts turn to what Blake had said. The ‘deadbeat lowlives’ of Beacon are one and the same as Yang. She works on the farm that Blake so desperately wants to get away from, she enjoys a slow and simple life. It’s obvious now, they were never going to be compatible, at least not in a way that would give them a future together.

The drive home feels ten times longer than usual. The anger doesn’t go away, it broils and churns in her belly until her chest begins to tingle and her face starts to feel hot. The more she thinks about it, the angrier she gets. The worst part is that Blake is the first person she wants to go to for comfort. She hates that she misses Blake even when she’s the one to have made her feel this way. A tear rolls down her cheek and she wipes it away furiously. Yang is _angry._ So why is she crying? She hates crying when she’s angry, because it makes her feel weak. Ever since she was a kid she’s had to be strong, and crying isn’t something that strong people do. 

When she gets home it’s already dark outside. The shorter days of winter are finally becoming noticeable. She throws her keys on the table near the door and walks past Ruby who is lounging on the couch and watching the history channel. 

“Blake not coming over today?” Ruby asks through a mouthful of chips.

“No. Don’t expect her to come over anytime soon,” Yang says shortly.

She hurries to her room before Ruby can ask any further questions, and slams the door before beginning to cry again. Yang lays down in bed, staring at the ceiling in the dark room, finally letting the tears flow freely. Work tomorrow is going to fucking suck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEYYYY, long time no see...again.... I really apologize for the sparse updates, just know that I DO plan on finishing this fic, even if the updates are infrequent. Life has been very busy. A big shoutout to my girlfriend for motivating me to work on this fic, as well as being my beta reader. Love you BITCH!!!


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